I struggled with this share since I had written this poem in January and finished it off in February; however, I never had an image that did it justice until today when I was going through some of my cards from my vacation.

Finally, so many months after writing it, I can finally share the words with you all. It has no relevance to my mood at present date, but it does feel nice to let it out into the world, those feelings I did have then. =)

Most everyone knows the cultural icon that is Rosie the Riveter , the persona of the American working woman during WWII. Back then, the motto was “We Can Do It”, but for a more modern day woman, with dreams, a career, and passions to be more and do more, the motto has become “We Will Do It”.

For all those women who paved the way for us ladies today, I say “Thank you” and we will not let you down!

“Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” – Orison Swett Marden

“Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.” – Doug Larson

This rusting and dilapidated framework is all that is left of the great wire walk of the famous German, Karl Wallenda ( the great grand father of the more recently famous Grand Canyon walker, Nik Wallenda) when he walked over Tallulah Gorge in Georgia on July 18, 1970.

“In theory one is aware that the earth revolves, but in practice one does not perceive it, the ground upon which one treads seems not to move, and one can live undisturbed. So it is with Time in one’s life.” – Marcel Proust

Yesterday was the day I planned to rock out my #ssp shot as well as capture my #52weekselfportait. I began with a few ideas, and as I flipped through my books on lighting and how to arrange it in ways to get certain results, the creativity for a highly stylized shot took shape.

I had my color in my hair when I got the idea to change my nail polish from blue to black, I was letting the color in my hair set, when I decided how I was going to rock the hair, I was doing laundry when I came up with the make-up application for the beauty shot, and I was making lunch and flipping around Pinterest/Flickr/500px when I formulated the official lighting set-up.

For me, it is how I work; I am a culmination of ideas that slowly fall into place. Sometimes it isn’t so slow, but once I get hold of an idea, it is hard for me to turn off that side until I have everything worked out. Simply said, that is “what I am”. I am a thinker, a doer, a planner, a creative, and a bit of a wild soul. I may play the part of mild mannered SMF during the 9 to 5 (well, I try to be mild mannered-ish), but where I really soar, is when I can give myself these creative outlets that only seem to get better and easier to do the more I learn!

That being said…

For Week 51 out of 52 (Holy Shit! Next week is the end! I better go out with a freakin’ bang!), here is the image created with my 3 light set-up of Beauty Dish, Barndoor Spotlight, and Softbox for a highly stylized #glamlook. I truly believe that #lightingisphotography – without it, we would be shooting nothing!

If you have not had a chance to go look at all the great shots by all the talented photographers sharing their “selfies”, I highly recommend you take a peek, and it is not too late to join in yourself!

+Craig Szymanski said it best in his posting, “Closure can be interpreted so many ways…”, and for me it was more of a mental and spiritual closure that came to mind when I thought of the word and where I could take it.

Not much more needs to be said when you look at the image…

Have a blessed (and hopefully dry) day! ♥

(Note: a table lamp and cell phone flashlight were the only two lighting sources for this image)